2009 French Australian Football Championship kicks off

On the 29th of March, Aussie Rules in France took a step forward with the start of the first-ever national championship. Around 60 footy enthusiasts gathered in Montpellier to enjoy a nice day of footy. Two games were played during the day, which saw the Bordeaux Bombers playing against the Strasbourg Kangaroos, and the Paris Cockerels taking on the Montpellier Fire Sharks.

The inaugural match was played between the Bordeaux Bombers and the Strasbourg Kangaroos. The south-west team started the game fast, leading by 13 points after only 2 minutes of play. But the more experienced Alsacians, helped by some players from the newly-formed Perpignan Tigers, quickly took the lead back, and were leading by the end of the first quarter.

Despite giving away a high number of free kicks, the Kangaroos slowly increased their lead all along the game, and eventually won by 57 points, 107 – 50.

The result is exactly what the Alsacians needed, reassuring them of their own technical skills. The Bombers were disappointed by their loss, but are eager to build up their strength and defeat the Fire Sharks next round.

The second game saw the Cockerels takes on the Fire Sharks. Despite having the advantage of the ground, the southern team had trouble fielding enough players, and had to rely on the players from Perpignan to make the number and try to defeat the Parisian. But the club from the French capital did not fail to show their greater technical skills and was leading by 40 points by the end of the first quarter.

In an attempt to avoid a crushing defeat, the Fire Sharks put more physical pressure on the Cockerels, but with little success, as Paris won the game by 72 points.

I'm assuming the confusion is because the word the French are using for "league" in our sense is championnat. To them the difference between the "championnat" and the Coupe de France is fairly self-explanatory, but not so much to us when it's translated into English.

I figured it was something like that. And the term isn't wrong in English, just has a slightly different common usage.

While I'm at it, we've referred to the CNFA - French Commission National de Football Australien. But I've also seen reference on The Footy Record and in Wikipedia to UFFA - Union Française de Football Australien.